Keeping track of Chicago area fire departments

Archive for category Fatal fire

An autopsy has been set for Tuesday to find the cause of death for a man found Monday in a burned mobile home in northeast Urbana. John Wagner, 46, was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:35 a.m. Monday.

Carroll Fire Protection District Deputy Chief Ron Vlach said firefighters were called to the home in the 0-100 block of Cedric Drive just before 4:40 a.m. and found smoke rolling out from underneath the structure when they arrived. They then found flames on the interior of the south side. The mobile home is a total loss, and the cause remains under investigation.

The Edge-Scott, Eastern Prairie, St. Joseph-Stanton, and Savoy fire departments all provided mutual aid, as did Arrow Ambulance.

A woman from an unincorporated area of Aurora Township was found dead in her home following a house fire Tuesday morning.

Kane County Sheriff’s deputies and Aurora Township firefighters were dispatched to a house fire with a person possibly trapped inside around 5:35 a.m. Tuesday at 1116 S. Sate St. in Aurora Township.

Due to the intensity of the fire, initial respondersdeputies and firefighters were not able to enter the home, which was fully engulfed in flames. Once it was safe to enter, firefighters found Tamara Garcia, 56, dead inside the home.

At about 9:30 p.m., on Friday, DuPage County sheriff’s deputies and the Elmhurst Fire Department responded to a house fire on Willow Road. Firefighters removed one woman and two males from the home. They were dead.

The investigation is ongoing and the identity of the deceased is being withheld until the cause and manner of their deaths are determined.

The body of one of two people still missing after Friday’s explosion at the AB Specialty Silicones factory in Waukegan was recovered Sunday afternoon. Crews found the missing man at approximately 2:30 p.m. in the rubble. The blast killed two others shortly after 9:30 p.m. Friday.

On Sunday, machines moved heavy objects such as air conditioners and large pieces of the building’s roof, while others on the ground used shovels as they searched for the bodies of the missing people.

Another victim, Allen Stevens, 29, of Salem, Wis., died at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. Stevens was initially taken to Vista Medical Center East and transferred to Loyola where he was pronounced dead at 11:50 a.m. Saturday.

A man was walking on 79th Street around 11:20 p.m. Monday when he noticed smoke and smelled burning. He knocked on the front door and heard a man inside, clearly in trouble.

Firefighters responded to the fire at a home in the 7800 block of South Rhodes in the Chatham neighborhood. 50-year-old Rawlin Brown was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The Winnebago County Coroner says a 56-year-old woman was killed in a fire Friday morning in the 800 block of 18th Street, not far from Churchill Park and Keith Creek just before 3 a.m.

Rockford fire officials say after arriving, they could see smoke and flames coming from the outside. Five minutes after arriving, they went inside, where they found the victim. She was taken to the hospital, where she later died. Three dogs also died in the blaze.

Rockford Fire Chief Derek Bergsten says there’s an easy way to prevent these kinds of tragedies. “One thing we would like to emphasize is make sure you have working smoke alarms. That’s imperative so that you can get early notification that you do have a fire in your house so you can exit in a safe manner. This is our second fire fatality this week and we want to make sure everyone has working smoke alarms.”

Bergsten says the fire only took 30 minutes to extinguish, and that the cause is still under investigation.

A man died and another was transported to a hospital after a house fire in West Chicago Wednesday night.

Three people were in a three-story house in the 100-block of West Grand Lake Boulevard in West Chicago when a fire broke out at about 10 p.m. Wednesday night. Fire officials believe the fire began in the front of the home and was made worse by the wind and open windows. The porch collapsed and the rest of the home was destroyed.

Firefighters were able to get a 92-year-old man from a second floor bedroom to safety. He was taken to a local hospital. His ex-daughter-in-law who lives with him got out on her own. The woman’s 53-year-old boyfriend died in an upstairs bedroom. Someone driving by the house saw it on fire and started banging on the doors, but by that time the flames had a head start.

The DuPage County Fire Investigation Task Force is listing the cause of the fire as undetermined because at this point they cannot rule out an electrical cause. They do not believe it is suspicious.

Rockford firefighters discovered smoke upon arrival around 1:30 a.m. coming from a home in the 1000 block of North Court Street. They discovered a 27 year old man inside, on the second floor. Despite efforts from first respondersfirefighters and hospital personnel to revive the victim, he later died at Rockford Memorial Hospital.

A firefighter was also injured, but is expected to be okay. The estimated loss is around $10,000 dollars, and the fire is still under investigation.

A 60-year-old man was critically injured and later died following an apartment building fire in the Rogers Park neighborhood. The fire started about 7:30 a.m. at the building in the 6600 block of North Sheridan Road. The man suffered burns in the fire, and was later pronounced dead. He was taken to Presence St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, initially in critical condition after the fire in the five-story building. After attempts to revive him, the victim died. No one else was injured and no one was displaced by the fire.

Five-year-old Katlyn Jefferies was found dead after she became trapped inside a burning Englewood home. Firefighters arrived just after 7 a.m. to the girl’s home in the 5800 block of South May Street and were told someone was trapped inside a burning brick two-flat. The girl’s grandfather said he was trying to kick in a door to rescue the girl, but he was stopped by a police officer who had arrived at the scene. Firefighters began searching for the girl as soon as they were told she could be trapped inside. The girl was found on a top bunk bed inside a bedroom on the first floor of the building and was pronounced dead on the scene.

It was unclear how many people were inside the building when the fire broke out, but fire officials believe at least three children were in the first-floor apartment. One child told officials they were woken up by a dog licking their face.

Firefighters didn’t find any working smoke detectors on the floor where the girl was found, but a working smoke detector was in the second-floor unit. The building did not have any recent code violations.